Israel in World Relations Course

The Israel in World Relations course includes over 70 hours of curriculum. The modular format allows schools and teachers to offer a full-year high school or university course or to custom design a unit or lessons to fit within their own pre-existing offering.

Course Description: Israel in World Relations explores Israel’s crucial role in 4,000 years of world history, ideology, religion, and politics through the lens of critical thinking. The course is divided into two parts.

Part I: Israel in History and Ideology introduces the concepts of ideology and history and continues with a review of monotheism and the religions that grew from it—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—which underlie the two most significant ideological forces in the current international system: the West, and the Islamic nations. The course will demonstrate how the current ideological dynamic came about and in the process consider the ideologies with which early Judaism had to compete, such as Hellenism. After providing an early history of the Jewish people and showing how Judaism, together with Christianity, contributed to the ideological basis of modern liberal democracy, we will conclude with a review of the origins and aims of contemporary Zionistic ideology.

Part II:Israel Among the Nations and the Arab-Israeli Conflict focuses on the history of the modern state of Israel beginning with the story of Jewish and Arab nationalism in the 19th century and the competing claims of both Arabs and Jews to the land of Israel/Palestine. Part II discusses the relative legitimacy of the agreements made between the representatives of the Jewish and Arab peoples during WWI and the ensuing decisions, made by the international community, that led to the creation of the states of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel.

Part II then considers the events since the founding of the state of Israel, including the subsequent conflicts between the Jewish State and the Arabs, and the various efforts to achieve peace between them. Included in Part II is an examination of the current challenges facing Israel in regards to its security and its portayal in the media and on campus.

Lesson topics for the Israel in World Relations course include:

Part I: Israel in History and Ideology

Introduction to Israel in Ideology.

What is History?

Monotheism, Judaism, and the Ancient Israelites

The Challenge of Hellenism

Christianity and the Spread of Monotheism

Democracy and the Rise of Biblical Values in the West

Islam, Islamism and the Arabs

Jewish Nationalism (Zionism) and Arab Nationalism

PART II: Israel Among the Nations and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

World War I Pledges and Agreements to the Arab and Jewish People

The Paris and San Remo Conferences and the Mandate for Palestine

Jewish and Arab Nationalism Under the Palestine Mandate 1920-1947

Israel and the Arabs After the Mandate 1947-1967

Israel and the Arabs 1967-1987

Israel and the Arabs 1987–2007

Going Forward—The Challenges Facing Israel and the Arabs

Course Text: Bass, Richard. Israel in World Relations, 2013.In addition to our in-class resources, Emet Education provides teacher training and on-going support. Schools using some or all of the Emet Education In-Class Resources

“Richard Bass has developed a unique modular course on the Jewish People, the Land of Israel and the Ideology behind Judaism. Richard has the rare ability to present in a very comprehensive way crucial historical data. This course is an extremely well-informed source of knowledge and information for all those interested in history, political science and many key legal aspects of the important issues which have confronted the Jewish People over the last centuries.”
—Dr. Jacques P. Gauthier, International lawyer and author of Sovereignty Over the Old City of Jerusalem.

“This curriculum is a model for what all Jewish studies curricula should be. It is thoroughly engaging for students while being true to academic integrity and the development of critical thinking. Ultimately, it does not only teach, but inspires students to be proud of their Jewish identity and see themselves as vital participants in the Jewish world.”
-Mahra Hart, Teacher, Tanenbaum CHAT.